From the Other Side
by tki143
Summary: Takes place after Season Finale, Maura realizes her feelings go deeper than she thought, does Jane feel the same?
1. Chapter 1

**From "When the Gun Goes Bang Bang" Episode 10. I do not own Rizzoli & Isles, as much as I want to I never will. **

_Have you ever thought about what it would be like to die? It's not what they say it is. Oh sure there's a white light and there's this tug-o-war going on between those saying go to the light and those telling you it's not your time but they never said you'd still feel the pain. They all say there is this peace and quiet, hell no, there's chaos and pain. You hear those from 'the other side' but you still here those on the scene yelling and screaming and all you want to do is tell them to shut up so you can find that peace and quiet. But no, not for Jane Rizzoli, no way are they going to let me go quietly into that light. Come on Maura just let it be, I'm tired and I hurt, quit pounding on my chest. Ok, if I come back maybe she'll stop. Wait are those her lips on mine? Maybe I'll just wait a few more minutes. Wait! Why am I enjoying her lips on mine? _

"Ok, I've got a pulse and she's breathing again, where's the ambulance? Korsak we need that ambulance or she's going to bleed out right here." Maura didn't take her eyes off of Jane while she spoke to the officers behind her.

_So this is what they mean by an out of body experience. I can see what's going on around me but I can't do anything about it. If that's the case then why the hell do I still feel the pain? That really sucks, I shouldn't have to deal with the pain if I'm not even in my own body. Damn Maura's going to kill me, look what I did to her dress, it's ruined. Oops they already killed me. _

"We're right here Doc, let's get her loaded up and out of here." The ambulance attended knelt down beside Maura. "You keep doing what you're doing and we'll lift her onto the gurney ok?" Maura just nodded and she kept her hands on Jane's stomach hoping she was staunching at least some of the blood flow. "Hang onto her Doc here we go."

_Yeah Doc hang onto me. I like the way you do that. How is it that I can be having this out of the body experience if I'm not dead? Because if Maura says I'm breathing and I have a pulse then I must not be dead but I can still hear their conversation. If the situation wasn't so serious this would be kind of cool. I have to remember to tell Maura about this. I wonder what Maura meant when she said she needed me. Hey, why are you moving away? Come back here. Maura get that body back over here. Maura come back!_

"Single gunshot wound to the abdomen at point blank range. Her pulse is weak and her breathing is irregular." Maura rattled off the information to the trauma nurse.

_OUCH! Damn don't move me so fast that hurts like a son of a bitch. Maura! Where are you Maura? Don't leave me Maura! Maura I need you!_

"Doc you're going to have to wait out here. She's not going to need your services for a very long time." The nurse placed her hand on Maura's shoulder to stop her from following the gurney into the emergency room. "What's her name?"

"Jane Rizzoli." Maura stood there wondering what she was supposed to do now.

"She related to the Frank Rizzoli who's in there now?" She pointed over her shoulder. "He just arrived about 5 minutes ago."

"Yes he's her brother. How's he doing?"

"Whoever inserted the tube in his lung probably saved his life." The nurse saw the look on Maura's face and knew. "That was you wasn't it? You've been pretty busy saving lives tonight Doc. Why don't you go sit in the waiting room over there and we will keep you as up to date as we can, on both of them. Looks like their parents are going to have one hell of a night."

"Oh god we have to contact Frank and Angela." Maura turned to Korsak. "It's hard enough to tell a parent that one of their children has been shot how do you tell them two of them have?"

Korsak put his arm around Maura's shoulders and walked her into the waiting room and helped her into a chair. "Don't you worry about that Doc, that's not your job. You're right where you are supposed to be right now. The lieutenant will go see them and make sure they have a ride over here. You did good Doc, you saved her life."

Maura looked down at her hands and for the first time realized they were covered in Jane's blood. "She lost so much blood, I couldn't stop the bleeding. Korsak she has to live."

"Hey she's a fighter Doc, look what she's survived so far. She's not going to let a little thing like a bullet keep her down. Hey Doc do you feel up to taking us through what happened back at the headquarters? We got bits and pieces, can you fill in the spaces?" Frost was about to kick Korsak for asking her when Maura looked up and took a deep breath.

"Frankie was hurt very badly and Jane told me I was the only one who could save him. No pressure right? She pulls out one of my books to find out what tension pneumothorax was, like I didn't already know he was going to die if I didn't do something. And that officer just stood there as if he was protecting us when all he wanted was that camera." Maura looked up at Frost. "He put the camera in his jeans pocket so you might want to call someone and have them retrieve it before it gets lost in the shuffle. It looks like a cigarette."

"Thanks Doc I'll make sure they grab it." He left the room to make the phone call.

"Maura, she's going to be ok. She knows you're waiting for her and that will give her the will to live." Maura's head snapped up to look him in the eye.

"What are you talking about?" She tried to duck her head so he couldn't see the tears that were threatening to fall.

"You two have been doing this dance around each other for years and this may be the catalyst to make you both realize how you feel about each other."

"I'm still not sure what you're talking about." Maura looked truly confused.

"Ok forget I said anything. I must have been wrong." He shook his head because he really thought there was more than a friendship between these two.

"No, you can't make a comment like that then tell me to forget it. What are you referring to?"

"Well Doc, I know you and Jane are close, I just thought maybe you felt more for her than friendship." Maura watched him blush.

"You think Jane and I are in a lesbian relationship?" She almost laughed. "No we are just very good friends. But she still means the world to me, and my life would be empty without her in it."

"Ok Doc, sorry I said anything." Korsak couldn't believe he read things so wrong. "Why don't you try to rest, you've had a rough day."

"Maybe I'll just put my head back for awhile." Maura closed her eyes but she couldn't ignore what Korsak intimated about her and Jane. She knew she loved Jane and her life would be empty without her but was it more than that? She'd always been drawn to her, more than to anyone, man or woman, she'd ever been drawn to before. But was it a sexual attraction? How could you not be attracted to Jane Rizzoli? She was a very beautiful woman with a strong personality who commands attention when she walks into a room. People are drawn to her like a moth to a flame. But was that all it was? Today when she saw Jane lying on the sidewalk she felt as if her world had been turned upside down and it has yet to right itself. Which is as it should be when you see a friend die right? But if she was honest with herself it was more than that maybe Korsak was right.

"We need to get her into surgery A.S.A.P." The surgeon on call said to the rest of his team. "She's stabilized and we've finally got the bleeding under control so let's move. We have to work fast."

_Do I have to stay with my body or can I float over to check on Frankie? Is Frankie floating around like me? Hey this is a hospital, I bet there are people floating around all over the place. We could form our own society. Kind of like the Dead Poets Society. Ha that's a good one Rizzoli. Damn no wonder this hurts so much, that's a big damn hole in my stomach. I don't think I'll be pulling that stunt again anytime soon. Hey it saved Frankie so I did my job right? Damn Ma's going to kill me. I can see it now, 'If it weren't for you Jane, Frankie would be working in the family business with your Father fixing sinks not getting shot'. _

"Vince do you really think she has those kind of feelings for me?" Maura opened her eyes and looked up at Korsak.

"I can't be sure Doc, but whenever you walk in the room Jane's eyes light up. Maybe she's not anymore aware of those feelings than you are. I've actually been enjoying the show, she gets this goofy grin on her face when she's talking to you and if she ever knew I was watching she would kill me. Big tough Rizzoli becomes a puppy dog when you're around." He smiled over at Maura and knew that he had been right.

"So it wouldn't bother you…if… you know…we…had…a." Maura wasn't sure how to finish the sentence.

"You want to know if you two being gay would bother me. Not really, I just want Jane to be happy and if you are what makes her happy then who am I to say anything."

"I don't know if I am of the lesbian persuasion but I think I might be attracted to Jane. That's what confuses me, I've never been attracted to women before."

"Maybe it's like they say, you haven't met the right woman yet. Maybe Jane's that person."

"You know Vince, you're not the tough guy you want people to think you are are you? Deep down you're an old softie." Maura looked up at Jane's old partner and watched him blush again and knew she was right.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?"


	2. Chapter 2

**I want to thank everyone for the reviews, they are what keep me coming back. Here's the next chapter.**

Chapter 2

Korsak and Maura both looked up at the doorway and saw Frank and Angela Rizzoli standing there. Maura stood up and walked over to both of them. "Mr. and Mrs. Rizzoli come on in and sit down."

"Dr. Isles how many times do I have to tell you to call me Angela?"

Maura smiled at the older woman. "About as many times as I have told you to call me Maura. Let's sit down."

"What happened? All they told us was that both Frankie and Jane were shot." She turned to her husband. "I told you Frankie should have gone into business with you, he wouldn't be here if he had."

Frank sat down next to his wife and took her hand in his. "Angie he never wanted to join the family business, he's always wanted to be a cop."

"He would have joined you if Jane hadn't become a cop. He always followed her around like the sun and moon rose and set on her." She turned to Maura. "He always tried to be better than Jane but she never let him. She was always so competitive, so unladylike was my Jane. Is my Jane. Could she let him win once in awhile, noooo? She broke her nose playing basketball, what man is ever going to want to marry someone who plays basketball like a man?"

I would. Whoa where did that thought come from. Maybe Korsak knew what he was talking about. "She's a good police officer Mrs…Angela. She's very good at what she does. She shot herself today so that they could get Frankie out the back door and get him to the hospital?"

"She shot herself? What the hell was she thinking? Why would she shoot herself? Leave it to Jane to manage to shoot herself."

"No Mrs. Rizzoli it wasn't an accident." Vince moved his chair closer to Jane's parents. "Frankie was in bad shape and Dr. Isles had fixed him up as best as she could but Jane knew he needed help fast. There were some guys that had taken over the police station and they were not going to leave until they got what they wanted. The guy who shot Jane had what he came for but he knew we weren't going to let him go. He took Jane hostage and Jane knew Frankie didn't have the time it would take to negotiate with this guy so she grabbed his arm and shot his gun and killed him. But the only way she was able to do that was to shoot him through her own stomach." He watched as what he said sank in.

Frank Sr. turned to Maura. "Is that what happened?" Maura just nodded. "Did she have any other options?" He turned to Korsak. "Could she have done it any other way?"

"She didn't see any other way to do it. And it worked. They were able to get Frankie here just before Jane GOT here. They're both in surgery now."

"She did that for Frankie?" Angela's voice was barely above a whisper. "Wow that was a crazy thing to do. But it saved Frankie?" She looked up at Maura for verification.

"Yes, Frankie was hurt real bad, he had internal bleeding due to a subdural hematoma and tension pneumothorax."

"English please Maura, Jane always said you were the smartest person she had ever met and now I know why. So can you explain it so we can understand."

"Oh I'm sorry Angela. He had massive bruising to his stomach on the left side and it was bleeding into the chest cavity which trapped the air around the lung not allowing it to escape as it normally would causing the lung to collapse. I inserted a needle which allowed the air to escape and he was breathing better when that officer took Jane hostage."

"She also kept Jane alive until they got her to the hospital." Vince added because he knew the doctor would not say anything about that.

"How did she do that?" Frank Sr. asked Vince.

"She performed CPR until the ambulance got there." Maura gave Korsak a look over her shoulder that he thought was anger but he couldn't understand why.

"Why did you need to perform CPR, you only do that if someone's not breathing or their heart stopped beating. Are you saying Jane's heart stopped?" The scared look on Angela's face told Korsak why Maura gave him that look and he could kick himself for not thinking before he spoke.

"Yes her heart had stopped but it was beating fine by the time we got her here and she was breathing on her own." Maura told her as she gave Korsak the same look as before.

"What do you mean she was breathing on her own. Did you help her with that too? So technically she died and you brought her back to life right?" Angela was staring intently as Maura and it was making her very uncomfortable.

Maura was never comfortable in these situations and that was why she worked with the dead instead of the living. You didn't have to deal with the families. "I guess you could say that. I just performed CPR as I was taught to do, it was nothing."

Angela stood up and walked over to Maura and sat down in the chair next to her. She reached over and pulled Maura to her in a very tight hug. The Rizzoli family never did anything gently and Maura wasn't used to this exuberant display of affection. "It sounds like you saved the life of both of my children today Maura. Thank you very much, I can never repay you for this but if you ever need anything you let me know and if I can help you I will. You will always be welcomed in our family. And it goes without saying that you will get free plumbing work from Frank Sr. if you ever need it." They all started laughing at that and the tension was broken.

Little by little the hallway filled with cops, on and off duty, ready to do whatever was needed for those who had fallen and for their families. They made food and coffee runs, kept the cops on the street up to date as what was going on but mostly they paced the hallway waiting for news of one, well two of their own. After about two hours the trauma nurse finally made her first appearance since they first saw her. "Frank had finally been moved to the recovery room. They stopped the bleeding, most of which was a result of a ruptured spleen which they had to remove." She then turned to Maura. "You did a great job with the needle. The doctor said it saved his life, the tension pneumothorax surely would have killed him if it had not been attended to as you did." She turned back to Frank and Angela. "She's been a busy Medical Examiner today but on the other end of the spectrum than she's used to. You can visit your son in about 20 minutes after they get him situated in the ICU."

"How's Jane doing?" Maura asked quietly from behind the nurse.

"She's fighting and she has one of the best doctors doing the surgery. Now I have to get back in there. I'll be back when I can." The nurse turned and walked back towards the OR. Maura knew that what she didn't say was more important than what she did say. She knew from her own experience in her rounds as a surgical resident that this meant the surgery wasn't going well. She didn't say Jane was ok, she said she was fighting, which meant she wasn't doing good. Maura tried to set her face so that no one else could tell what she was thinking, they didn't need to know. Being a woman of science she believed in what she could see and touch she didn't take things on faith, but for the first time in her life she prayed. She prayed for the doctors hands to be swift and sure, she prayed for Jane to be strong and not give up and she prayed that she herself could be strong enough to deal with whatever happens.

Maura watched as the Rizzoli's were led out of the waiting room to the ICU so they could sit with Frankie. She was happy for them, and was glad she was able to be a part of making sure their son was ok. Now she hoped that there would be the same happy ending with Jane.

She must have fallen asleep because she woke and it was dark outside. She stood up and stretched and felt her vertebrae pop back into place but it brought back a memory of one night her and Jane were lying on her bed and Jane complained that her back hurt so Maura offered to give her a back rub. Jane had sat up and pulled her shirt over her head and laid back down on her stomach. Maura remembered how her stomach had clenched as she stared down at Jane in a black lacy bra and sweat pants. She hadn't thought anything of it at the time but now realized she liked the look of Jane lying on her bed. Oh I am in so much trouble if Jane doesn't feel the same way. She walked out in the hallway and everyone stopped talking when they saw her. "What? Is something wrong? Is Jane ok?"

"Doc it's been so long, why is it taking so long?" Barry Frost was the one to voice what no one else could. "Isn't is usually bad if they are still doing surgery 8 hours later?"

She looked at her watch and she must have slept for about an hour at the most. "No, it's a good sign. If they are still in surgery it means she's still alive. But it also means there's must have been a lot of damage to repair." Maura walked away from them so she could be alone with her thoughts. What could be taking them so long? What was the extent of the damage? Was Jane going to be ok in the long run? She turned around and started walking back towards the waiting room and quickened her pace when she saw the trauma nurse come through the doors.

"She's one tough cookie. There is no way she should be alive but she is. They had to use the paddles 3 times when her heart stopped but she's holding her own. It's amazing what one little bullet can do as it makes its way through the body. I already spoke to the family and they'll be there with her in the ICU." She turned to Maura. "They wanted me to let you know that you could go back there and sit with her if you wanted to."

Maura's face lit up like a Christmas tree with her first smile since this whole thing started. "I would love to. Can I go back now?" The nurse nodded and Maura took off through the doors. She stopped by the desk and they told her Jane was on her way down and should be there in about 5 minutes. Frankie's room was across the hall from the nurse's station and Maura stopped at the door to his room and whispered. "How is he?"

Both Frank and Angela turned and smiled up at Maura. "He woke up a few hours ago and asked what happened and told us to thank you. We told him he could thank you himself later. They're bringing Jane up now and they're going to put her in the room next door so we can go back and forth between the two rooms. They even said we could open the curtains between the two rooms so they can see each other. I thought we'd wait until Jane's awake before we did that."

"Thank you for letting me come back. I know it's supposed to be family only."

"If it weren't for you we wouldn't have them so as of today you are family. We're lucky you were there for them."

"I was only doing what I was trained to do Angela." But Maura was amazed and surprised at how good it felt to hear Angela tell her she was part of this family. She liked spending time with Jane and her family, she remembered the time at the bar fixing the pipes and throwing peanuts when they had finished the job. Her adoptive family had always been there for her but their get togethers were always formal affairs. They sat around a table that was set according to etiquette, and meals were served by a staff of 12. Meals were quiet and you did not speak unless you were spoken to by her Father, who sat at the head of the long table. Rizzoli family dinners were a rambunctious celebration and everyone spoke at the same time and sometimes they actually yelled at each other. And she loved every minute of it, she even loved watching the baseball games afterward as everyone yelled at the TV as if their words could change the outcome of what was happening. And we all know that is impossible to do. She looked up as she saw them wheeling Jane into the room next door and had to stop herself from running over there. This was their time with Jane. No matter what they say she was still an outsider.

Angela stood up then leaned down to whisper in Frankie's ear. Maura was touched by the love she saw in both parent's faces. "Frankie we'll be back in a few minutes. We're going to go check on Jane. She's gonna be ok." Angela started walking out of the room and when she realized Maura didn't follow her she turned around. "What are you waiting for come on."

"No this is your time with her, this is time for the family. I'll visit later." Maura started to walk past Angela but a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"I thought you understood what I said before. You are family, come sit with us ok?"

Maura smiled at the woman in front of her and took her offered hand. "Thank you Angela, you have no idea what this means to me."

"Oh I think I do." Angela mumbled so Maura couldn't hear her and turned so Maura missed the sly smile on her face.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Angela pulled on Maura's hand. "Come on before Frank gets the good chair by the bed. He always takes the good chair. We won't be able to get close to her once he sits down." They both started towards the room next door but were surprised when they saw Frank standing outside the room and he looked pasty white.

"Mr. Rizzoli are you ok?"

"She looks so helpless. That's not how Jane is. Look at all those machines and wires." Maura looked into the room and couldn't blame him for his reaction. Jane was hooked up to a heart monitor, there was a tracheal tube hooked to a mechanical ventilator assisting with her breathing and an IV drip replenishing fluids to her body. Maura felt her knees begin to buckle but was caught by Frank before she could fall. "Doctor Isles are you ok? Come on let's get you into a chair before you fall down." He helped her to the chair next to the bed and pushed her into it. "There ya go, is that better? Kind of took you by surprise too didn't it?"

"Yeah it did. I should have known what to expect, I'm a doctor for god's sake, this should not shock me but it's Jane lying there, it's not just a patient, it's Jane." Maura felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Angela standing behind her.

"It's ok sweetie, you can stop being a doctor for a little while and join us mere mortals here on Earth. You're allowed to feel and express those feelings." Angela walked around to the other side of the bed and pulled up a chair and rested her hand on Jane's hand.

"In my family we aren't allowed to express our feelings in public. We usually wait until we're alone."

"Well what good does that do, whose there to comfort you when you're alone? The Rizzoli's express what we're feeling when we're feeling it, get used to it. You might as well do what we do while we're here to comfort you. We take care of our own." Angela told her across the bed.

Maura was touched by Angela's words. "I'll remember that, thank you." Maura reached up and took hold of Jane's hand and was surprised at how cold it was. "Her hands are cold." Frank laughed behind her and she turned around to see what he was laughing at but he was looking at Jane.

"That's always been a running joke in the family. We all have cold hands." To prove his point he placed his hand against Maura's cheek and she almost jerked back from the coldness of his hand. "Jane always said…'cold hands warm heart'. Her feet are just as cold. It's a family thing."

"Good, I was afraid the circulation was poor because of some complications of the surgery or the shooting. He color isn't as bad as I thought it would be but it could be better. That will come with time." Maura put her fingers to Jane's wrist and felt her pulse and remembered the last time she checked it and she couldn't stop the tears from falling. She felt Angela's arms around her and before she knew it she was hugging Jane's mother and crying her eyes out. "The last time I checked her pulse it was barely discernable and I wasn't sure I could keep her alive. I did everything I could but I wasn't sure it was enough."

"It was enough Maura, she's alive, but it's not because of the doctors in the operating room, it's because you kept her alive long enough for them to put her back together again. The same goes for Frankie." Angela started to stroke Maura's hair and soon she felt the young woman start to relax against her. "Maura do you ever stop being a doctor and just be a woman? You can you know. We won't tell anyone if that's what you are worried about." There was a note of humor behind her words so Maura did not take offense.

"I told you before that's just not the way I was raised. It's going to take time to get used to this open display of affection and feelings. But I will try, I promise."

"Ma what are you making her promise?" Jane whispered from the bed. "Leave her alone or she'll run away. How's Frankie?"

"He's in the room next door and he's going to be fine. How do you fell sweetie?"

"Like a steamroller ran me over. But not bad considering it could have been worse."

"Yeah you could be dead, what the hell were you thinking Jane? You shot yourself for god's sake. Of all the stupid things you've done this has got to rank up there at the top of the list."

"Ma can't you at least wait until I'm fully awake before you chew me out?"

"No, because then you would talk back and I don't want you to do that. We almost lost both you and Frankie today. Did you think about that when you were shooting yourself? Of course not. You go off half cocked and take on this guy all by yourself so they can take care of your brother. Did you think it would be ok that you died as long as Frankie was ok? Well it wouldn't have been. It would have killed me if you had died. But thanks to Maura that didn't happen. Thanks to Maura both you and Frankie are going to be ok. Now I'm going to sit with your brother." Angela leaned down and kissed Jane's forehead and turned to walk out of the room. "Are you coming Frank?"

Frank leaned down and kissed Jane's forehead too. "I'm glad you're ok Jane."

"Thanks Pop. See ya later." She smiled up at her Father.

Jane took her first look at Maura and almost laughed at the way she looked. Her hair was a mess, her makeup was less than the flawless she was used to and she was still wearing the same dress from earlier. "Hey Maura."

Maura leaned forward in her chair and raised the hand she had been holding and kissed the top of it. "Hey Jane." She looked up and smiled at Jane. "You gave us all quite the scare you know."

"Yeah well I figured as long as you were around you wouldn't let me die and it looks like I was right huh?" She tried to joke but she didn't really pull it off. "I guess I owe you one right?"

"Jane I didn't save your life so you would be indebted to me, although that could have its advantages. I did it because if you died it would leave a big hole in my life." Jane was surprised to see tears in Maura's eyes.

"Well if the way you were pumping on my chest was any indication of how much you wanted me around you must really want me around. That hurt like hell. But I did enjoy the mouth to mouth." She smiled down at Maura.

"How could you know I did mouth to mouth let alone enjoy it? Wait what do you mean you enjoyed it?" Maura was worried that maybe there was something wrong with Jane.

Jane had to laugh at the expression on Maura's face. It was a combination of wonder, longing and fear. She thought Jane was crazy. "Well have you ever heard of someone having an out of body experience?"

"Well I've read stories about it but I was hesitant to believe them. Are you saying that happened to you?"

Jane's smile widened and her eyes danced with merriment. "Yup! That's what I'm saying. Did any of the stories you read mention that they still felt the pain? Because I did. I felt the pain from the gunshot and I felt the chest compressions you were doing. That hurt by the way. But you made up for it with the mouth to mouth. There was no pain there."

"What are you saying Jane?" Maura was almost afraid to hope that it meant what she wanted it to mean. "Are you saying you enjoyed the mouth to mouth because it saved your life or you just enjoyed the mouth to mouth?"

"Maura come here." Jane crooked her finger signaling she wanted Maura to bend down to her. "I really enjoyed the mouth to mouth and I would like to make sure it wasn't the heat of the moment."

"So this is an experiment, you just want to confirm that you enjoyed the mouth to mouth? What if I don't feel the same way?" Maura wanted to know what Jane would do if she didn't feel the same way.

"Well then I would just tell you to forget about this whole conversation and we can chalk it up to me coming out of the anesthesia and go on from there." Jane leaned back a bit disappointed.

"Well then I guess it's a good thing I enjoyed the mouth to mouth, although at the time I wasn't thinking about that. I was more concerned with you coming back to me. It really didn't tell me much because there wasn't any response from you. Other than you starting to breathe again that is."

"Maura are you going to kiss me or what?" Jane gave Maura her best smile.

"I thought I was going to give you mouth to mouth…" She was unable to finish her sentence because Jane had grabbed the front of her dress and pulled her down to meet her lips in a heated kiss. She was pleasantly surprised at the shock that went through her body when their lips finally made contact. When they pulled apart she had to grab the railing along the side of the bed to keep her legs from buckling under her. "Wow…I mean wow…"

"Maura Isles speechless. But I know what you mean. Can we try it once more just to be sure?"

"Yeah just to make sure." Maura leaned forward eagerly and felt the same spark when their lips met.

"Ok that makes it official. I like kissing you. What about you?" She smiled at Maura.

Maura couldn't stop her smile from growing wider. "I think I would have to agree with you. I really enjoyed kissing you and I would hope to be able to continue kissing you."

Jane laughed but she got serious before she spoke to Maura. "So where does this leave us Maura? What do you want from me?"

"Today when I thought I was going to lose you I realized what you meant to me. I've cared about you for a very long time as my best friend and I really enjoy our time together. But today I realized I loved you and it is as more than a friend."

"Ya think?" Maura playfully slapped her arm. "Well I realized that I really needed you. When I was floating above my body you were what kept me from totally freaking out. It was a cool experience but at the same time it scared the hell out of me. When you left me at the hospital I got scared, all I wanted was to be back in your arms." Maura reached up and wiped away the tear that was rolling down Jane's cheek.

"They stopped me at the Emergency Room door, they wouldn't let me go any further. It was killing me to not know what was happening with you. I have never felt so helpless in my entire life. I never want to feel that way again. I want to be a part of your life and I want you to be a part of mine."

"That sounds an awful lot like what I want too." Jane was almost whispering. She was afraid she was going to wake up and find this has all been a dream. "It surprised the hell out of me when these feelings surfaced. I knew I liked you, and I really liked our sleepovers but now I want you to sleepover for a different reason."

"So Ms. Rizzoli would you care to expound on that statement?" Maura sat down on the edge of the bed and kept her hold on Jane's hand.

"Gee Maura what do you want me to say? Do you want details or what? I'd rather show you in the privacy of my own bedroom. But I think that's going to have to wait until I heal. We can still kiss though, we can kiss a lot. Speaking of kissing." She pulled Maura down for another toe curling kiss.

"For someone who just came out of surgery you're pretty feisty." Maura tried to bring her breathing under control.

"I'm a fast healer too. Before you know it I'll be out of here and we can take this to the next level. We can probably get into some heavy petting before I leave here but the hot and heavy stuff is going to have to wait until the doctor clears me."

"That would be an interesting conversation. 'Gee doc when can I go home and have sex with my girlfriend?' I'd like to be a fly on the wall for that one."

"Are you my girlfriend?" Jane looked at Maura hopefully but with a hint of doubt in her voice.

"If that's what you want me to be." Maura leaned down to kiss Jane and felt Jane's arm go around her shoulder's pulling her in to deepen the kiss. Neither one of them heard the curtain in Frankie's room being pulled back to reveal Jane's parents and Frankie smiling at the two of them.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Jane started some light physical therapy the next morning and Maura made sure she was there for the first session. She knew it would be a few weeks before Jane would be able to go back to work so she arranged for someone to take over her caseload for the next two weeks so she could be there to help Jane. She was hesitant to tell Jane because she didn't want to assume that was what Jane wanted so she was going to wait until Jane asked. It didn't take long for Jane to mention it, sooner than Maura would have liked. Jane didn't question why she was there until after the session was over and Maura didn't leave. "Maura aren't you supposed to be at work right now?"

"I took some time off to see what you'll have to do once you leave the hospital so I would be able to help you. I wanted to make sure I was familiar with all of the exercises." She was pretending to be reading Jane's chart and Jane could tell something was up.

"Just how much time did you take off to help me?" Jane watched closely because she knew Maura couldn't lie.

"Two weeks." She mumbled under her breath and lowered her head so her hair covered her face and she continued to stare at the chart.

"What was that I didn't quite hear you?" Jane thought she heard her but she wanted to be sure.

Maura raised her head and looked at Jane defiantly. "Two weeks ok! I took two weeks off because I didn't want you to be alone through this. I want to be the one there to help you get up in the morning, I want to be the one to change your bandages." She was pacing back and forth and talking fast because she wanted to get it all out before Jane could say no. "I want to be the one to be there in the middle of the night when you wake up in pain, because you will. I know you've got your family to take care of you but I want to be the one taking care of you." She was almost yelling by the time she got done talking. She finally stopped pacing and glanced up at Jane.

Jane was speechless as she stared at Maura. "Gee Maura you don't have to yell at me. I love that you want to take care of me but you don't have to take that much time off you can just come over after work and help me then." Jane was surprised by the hurt look that crossed Maura's face.

"You don't want me there?" She looked at Jane with her big brown eyes and was surprised by how much it hurt to think she didn't want her there. Jane tried to sit up and winced in pain then lay back against the pillow. Maura was quick to move by her side. "See, you can't even sit up on your own. How are you going to be able to make your meals, or change clothes or take a shower? You're going to need help."

"And I sure as hell don't want to share a shower with Ma. But I'm sure you've got better things to do with your vacation time? You shouldn't waste that time taking care of me."

"Jane spending time with you would never be a waste of my time, no matter what we are doing." She looked at Jane in all earnestness.

"You just want an excuse to get me naked in the shower don't you?" She smiled at Maura.

"There is that." Maura smiled as she sat down on the bed next to Jane and took her hand but then her smile disappeared. "I was hoping you'd be happy."

"Maura if that's how you want to spend your vacation I am ecstatic, really I am." She added at Maura's skeptical look. "The thought of waking up next to you every morning is enough for me to exercise twice as much just to get out of here early. I would love for you to take care of me for the next two weeks."

"You're not just saying that to make me feel better are you?" Maura moved her hand out of Jane's grasp.

"Have you ever known me to say something just to make someone feel better, even you?" She reached out and took Maura's hand again.

"No, you are always brutally honest. Thank you Jane." Maura leaned forward with the intent to give Jane a quick kiss but Jane had other plans. She deepened the kiss by reaching up and pulling Maura almost on top of her. "Jane stop that you are going to hurt yourself and you'll be here longer. Behave yourself."

"Yeah like that's ever going to happen." Angela said from the doorway. Jane and Maura broke apart and Maura stood up and quickly walked away from the bed. "So this is why you never liked any of the guys I brought home. Why didn't you say anything?"

"Maybe because I didn't know myself." She reached out for Maura's hand and Maura shyly took it and stood by Jane's bed. "Are you ok with this Ma? What about Pop, how do you think he'll take it?"

"Well he didn't seem too upset when he saw you two kissing through the window yesterday. Frankie seemed ok too." Angela had to laugh as she watched Maura blush and Jane get angry.

"You didn't think that we would mind the three of you playing peeping Tom through the window? How long did you watch Ma?" Jane tried to sit up again and Maura stopped her and reached for the button to raise the head of the bed.

"Once we realized you were kissing and she wasn't giving you mouth to mouth again I reached to close the curtain. Frankie wanted to leave it open but I told him it just wasn't right." Angela smiled innocently from one woman to the other. "I guess it was about 5 minutes.

"Are you telling me that the three of you stood there and watched us kiss for 5 minutes?" Jane asked incredulously.

"Of course not silly, Frankie can't stand up yet so he was still lying down. You two didn't seem to notice and like I said I wanted to be sure she was kissing you and that you were still alive. What is it you always say Jane? Verify everything. I was just verifying that she was kissing you and not giving you mouth to mouth."

"And it took the three of you 5 whole minutes to verify that I was alive?" Jane still couldn't believe they were spying on her.

"No it only took me a minute but Frankie couldn't see very well from his bed so it took him a bit longer." By this time Maura was able to see that Angela was having fun at Jane's expense and she sat back and watched the interaction between Mother and daughter.

"Ma how could you invade my privacy like that?" Jane couldn't believe this was happening. She looked over at Maura and saw that she was smiling. "And what are you smiling about? Don't you feel violated?"

"Not yet, we should save that for when we get home don't you think?" She smiled innocently at Jane. Angela sputtered behind them then broke out in a full laugh.

"Looks like you've met your match Janey. I think she'll be good for you, she'll definitely keep you on your toes." Angela walked over and gave Maura a hug then leaned down and kissed Jane on the cheek. "Make sure you bring her by on Sunday and I can teach her how to make Gnocchi just the way you like it." She reached up and pinched Jane's cheek like she used to when she was a little girl. "Don't give her a hard time Jane, she really cares about you." She then turned to Maura. "You better not hurt my little girl, or you'll have to answer to the whole Rizzoli family." She smiled to show she was only kidding.

"I don't plan on hurting her Angela. I plan on taking good care of her."

"Good she needs someone to take care of her."

"She had physical therapy earlier so I know what to do once we get out of here. I'll be able to help her exercise the core muscles at least."

"Oh I bet you'll be able to think of a few other things to keep those muscles in shape I'm sure." Angela wiggled her eyebrows at Maura.

"Ma you can't talk about my love life like that, it's just not right. Maura don't encourage her. How's Frankie doing by the way?" Jane hoped to change the subject and she knew her Mother would always talk about Frankie if she was given the opportunity.

"He's doing great, hang on a minute and I'll go over and open the curtain so you can see him." Angela turned and almost ran out of the room.

"Maura how can you sit there as if this doesn't bother you at all and how could you encourage her like that?" She whispered.

"Why are you whispering Jane?" Maura sat down next to her on the bed smiling as if she hadn't a care in the world.

"Because if I don't she'll hear me." Jane nodded her head towards Frankie's room as if that answered all of Maura's questions.

"How can she hear you, she's not even in the room." Maura looked around the room to see if Angela was anywhere in sight.

"You don't know my mother. She has ears that would put most CIA devices to shame. She hears things no one else can."

"I heard that Jane." Came Angela's voice from the other room.

"See?" Jane said as she watched the curtain between the rooms open. "Maura can you raise my head up a little more please? Thanks babe." Jane looked at her little brother and smiled. "I wish we could use cell phones here 'cuz then I could call him and talk to him."

Angela walked back into Jane's room. "Frankie says you look like shit Jane but not bad considering what you've been through."

"He looks a lot better than the last time I saw him." Angela turned and walked back out of the room then Maura and Jane watched as she walked back into Frankie's room and relayed what Jane said. "What is she doing? Is she going to run back and forth?" They watched as she left Frankie's room and walked back into hers.

"He says you look a lot worse than the last time he saw you. He wants to know how you're really feeling."

"Tell him they got me on some really good drugs so the pain is minimal. It's going to take some time to get back on my feet but I'll still be able to kick his ass." Jane smiled at Frankie through the window and waved at him. Angela left the room and Jane could tell when she said the last part because Frankie threw his head back and laughed then winced in pain. "Oh don't laugh Frankie I know it hurts. Sorry." She spoke as if he could hear her. Maura watched Jane as she watched her brother and saw the close bond between the two of them. It was at times like these that she felt she had been robbed by being an only child. Angela listened to what Frankie was saying and she walked a little slower back to Jane's room. "What's the matter Ma ya getting tired?"

"Don't you sass me Jane, I'm pacing myself. If this conversation goes on much longer I may start a tag team with Maura and she can run too." Angela smiled at Maura.

"Oh no, you're not going to get me to run back and forth. I'm staying right here." Maura sat down on Jane's bed and took her hand. "Besides they should both be out of the ICU later today."

"Maybe they'll give them a room together. That would make it easy on me."

"Yeah Ma that's their top priority, make sure Angela Rizzoli's life is easy. We would kill each other if we were in the same room and you know that."

"Why is that Jane? I thought you and your brother were good friends." Maura asked.

"Sorry sometimes I forget you were an only child Maura. Even though we are family and we love each other, there is a limit to how much time we can spend together before we are at each other's throats. Right Ma?" Jane turned to her Mother and saw that she was looking at Frankie and when she turned he was frantically waving to get their attention.

"Let me go see what he wants, I'll be right back." They both watched as Angela scurried out of the room once again.

"I envy you Jane, I wish I had had someone like Frankie to play with while I was growing up. All I had were my books and our house staff of course."

"What about friends? Didn't you have friends come over to play?" Jane watched Maura closely because she thought she knew what the answer was going to be.

"I didn't have much in common with the kids I went to school with. Mother and Father had me in a private school for gifted children but there went many kids my age so it was hard to make friends. And any kids in my neighborhood that were my age thought I was weird so they didn't want to be friends with me. They were very cruel." Maura looked back at Jane with sad eyes.

"Well then we'll just have to adopt you into our family now won't we."

"Your Mother already did that." Maura said with a big smile. "She told me because I saved both your life and Frankie's that I was now a part of your family. How do you think I was able to get into your room?"

"I thought you used your status as a doctor and got in that way. Are you saying Ma got you in here? Well I'll be damned." Jane looked through the glass partition to see her mother sitting on Frankie's bed smoothing his hair back. How come she never did that to me? She was always gentle and forgiving with Frankie but she was always finding things wrong with whatever I do. Frankie could do no wrong but I was always doing things wrong according to her.

"It's because he's the youngest child." Jane gave her a confused look. "I read somewhere that parents dote on their youngest child often to the exclusion of the eldest and many do it without even knowing they are doing it."

"What are you a mind reader too? How did you know that's what I was thinking?" Jane laid her head back on the pillow and let out a sigh. "I try not to let it get to me but sometimes I just wish she would be like that with me." She again nodded to the window towards Frankie's room. "She always tells me I should be more like Frankie, more down to earth. Other than the floating over my body when I died I thought I was a pretty down to earth person. She always tells me to quit being rough with Frankie but I'm usually the one to get hurt but she doesn't coddle me, she asks Frankie if he's ok and tells me to put ice on whatever I may have injured."

Maura sat down beside Jane and took her face between her hands so that Jane was looking directly at her and couldn't look away. Damn it felt nice to be able to touch her like this. Oops back to where I was going with this. Wait where was I going with this? "You are a potent person Jane, I was going to say something profound but when I looked into your eyes the thought completely disappeared. Poof!"

"Did you just say poof? Maura Isles said poof. There's nothing scientific about poof. See we're rubbing off on you already. You're getting less and less scientific as the minutes pass. Before you walk out of here you'll be just as dumb as the rest of the Rizzoli's are."

Maura gently slapped Jane's arm. "You are not dumb and so far your family has proven to be quite intelligent." Just then Angela came running back into the room.

"Frankie says he wants to challenge you to rock, paper, scissors through the window." Angela had a big grin on her face. "I wouldn't have to run back and forth for that would I?"

Jane looked at Maura and smiled. "I rest my case. Dumb as a box of rocks. Run Maura, save yourself while you still can."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Jane and Frankie were moved to the 3rd floor the next day and their rooms were across the hall from each other. Angela was bouncing between the rooms making sure both of them were ok. "Hey Ma, why don't we get you a chair with wheels and you can just zoom back and forth. Save wear and tear on those tired old legs of yours." Maura tried to stop the laugh that was bubbling up inside of her but couldn't stop herself.

Frank Sr. stood in Jane's doorway and watched his wife. "Angela would you settle down, you're making me tired and dizzy. You're like watching a tennis game, back and forth, back and forth. Sit still for 5 minutes would you?" He looked at Maura apologetically. "She's just not used to her kids being hurt, she doesn't know what to do with herself. Jane, are you feeling ok? You look a little pale?"

Maura stood up and took a good look at Jane and had to admit she did look a little pale. She picked up her wrist and tried to check her pulse but Jane pulled her arm away. "Maura I'm hooked up to that monitor right there and that tells you everything you need to know about me. I'm fine, I guess the move must have tired me out or something. Pops, why don't you and Ma go visit with Frankie, I think I'll take a little nap. Hey, maybe later we can string two cans between our rooms so Frankie and I can talk to each other."

"Frank you can set that up can't you?" Angela walked over to Jane's bedside and kissed her on the forehead. "Maybe by the time you wake up we'll have that all set up."

Frank walked over and bent down to give her a hug and whispered. "I'll tell her they won't allow it because it would be dangerous for the nurses. She doesn't know it doesn't work. I love you Janey."

"Love you too Pops." Jane hugged him as best as she could. "See ya later." Jane waited until they were both out of the room. "Maura could you ask the nurse if I can have a little something for the pain?"

"Why didn't you ask earlier instead of waiting until it hurt so bad?"

"I didn't want them to know. They would worry." Maura walked over and kissed Jane before she walked out of the room.

A few minutes later the nurse came back in the room with a small cup in her hand. She handed it to Jane along with a glass of water. "Dr. Isles said you wanted this on the sly so your parents wouldn't know. Are you going to give me hard time and not ask for anything even when you are in pain?" She smiled down at Jane.

Jane took the pills and looked at her name tag. "Only if my parents are in the room Janice."

"She's too stubborn for her own good Jan." As Maura walked passed Janice Jane noticed how she touched her shoulder and felt a stab of jealousy. The nurse left the room and Maura turned to look at Jane and was surprised by the look on her face. She walked over to sit down next to Jane but watched as she moved away. "Jane what it is? Are you ok? Are you still in pain? Should I call the nurse back?"

"Sure I bet you'd like that wouldn't you? Jan huh? You're on a first name basis and we've been here for less than an hour."

"Oh Jane you're jealous. How precious. Jan and I have been friends for years and I like her husband to. Feel better now?" Jane had a sheepish smile on her face when she looked up at Maura.

"I've never thought of myself as a jealous person and it surprised the hell out of me. I'm not sure what that means but I'm sorry."

"Oh sweetie there's no reason to be sorry, I think it's kind of cute."

"Cute? I don't do cute Maura. I'm rough and tough, I am not cute." She gave Maura her best tough guy look.

"Oh give it up Jane you do cute very well. Your bottom lip comes out and you pout when you don't get your way and sometimes you stomp your foot. You do that more with your family than with your coworkers because you know it wouldn't work on Korsak or Frost." She sat down on the bed next to Jane and took her hand.

"I do not pout." She laid her head back and closed her eyes.

"Jane stop pouting, it's not ladylike." Angela breezed into the room.

"Ah not you too Ma, I do not pout." Jane opened her eyes to see Maura standing in front of her with an 'I told you so' smile.

"You do pout, while it was cute when you were younger it's not as a woman." Angela chided her oldest child.

Maura could see that the pill was starting to kick in because her speech was starting to slur. "Ma I don't pout, Maura do I pout?" She turned to Maura for help.

Maura once again sat down on the bed and took Jane's hand. "Don't worry about it, go to sleep."

"But I don't pout." She was barely able to get the last word out before she fell asleep. Maura reached down and pushed a stray hair off of Jane's forehead and bent down and kissed her cheek.

"She is kind of cute when she pouts isn't she?" Maura looked up at Angela and watched as she looked down at Jane. "She's always so hard on herself, both physically and emotionally. She's always pushed herself harder than any other kids, she always had to be the best at everything. Maybe now she'll take it easy for awhile." Angela watched Maura with Jane and saw how much she really cared for her. "You think I'm too hard on her don't you?"

Maura glanced up quickly unable to hide her surprise at the question. "It's not my place to say anything Angela, this is between the two of you."

"If you are going to be a part of her life and around our family, and I hope you will be, then you've earned the right to say something."

How much should she say? Or should she not say anything? "She's not a tough as you think she is. I think deep down inside there's a little girl that still needs her Mom but doesn't know how to tell her."

"Did she say something to you?" Angela walked over and brushed back Jane's hair and sat down in the chair beside her bed and took her other hand in hers. "She's always seemed to shy away from me whenever I tried to show even the littlest affection to her. She's always been her Daddy's little girl. I've always looked forward to family dinners when she came over and we would be in the kitchen, just us girls and we would cook together. She's a really good cook."

"Have you ever told her these things? I think she would love to hear that." Maura walked over and placed a hand on Angela's shoulder.

"I guess I took it for granted that she knew how much I loved her. She just never seemed to need me. Even when she was little she always ran to Frank Sr. when she got hurt she never came to me. Did I do something wrong Maura?"

"You're talking to the wrong person Angela.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Frankie was released from the hospital 2 days later but Jane had developed a low grade fever, which meant there was an infection somewhere in her body, and they were trying to beat it with antibiotics but it didn't seem to be working. Once again it was something that Jane had kept from her parents and asked Maura to not tell them too. "You know Jane your Mother has a right to know about this. I don't feel right about keeping this from her."

"If she knew I had a fever she would worry, its better that she just thinks it's because I need more time to heal. She might bring soup or something, she thinks food cures everything. Besides, I'll probably be out of here tomorrow right?" Jane looked up at Maura with her big brown eyes.

"Jane it's been a day and a half and your fever should have gone down by now but it keeps going up. Look at you, your sweating in a room that in cool at best." Maura sat down next to her and took her hand. "Until they know what is causing this fever they won't even discuss sending you home."

"But it's just a fever why won't it go away?" Maura could see that Jane was finally beginning to understand the seriousness of the situation.

"Jane, there is an infection that is attacking your body and usually antibiotics would kill it but they aren't working. Until they find a way to bring the fever down you are not going anywhere and neither am I." Maura watched as Jane fought to stay awake. "Just go to sleep ok, it's your body trying to help. Give in to it Jane, quit fighting it." She finally fell asleep and Maura went in search of Jan whom she found at the nurse's station. "What can you tell me? What did the x-rays and CAT scan show? And why isn't the fever reacting to the antibiotics?"

Jan reached behind her and pulled out a chart, Maura assumed it was Jane's. "If you ever tell anyone I did this I will deny it." She handed the chart to Maura. "The doctor is worried about a particular area near where the spleen had been. It's not healing as expected and he may have to go back in to clean it up."

"How long is he going to wait?" Maura asked as she continued reading the chart.

Jan looked at her watch. "He's due to make his rounds in about 10 minutes and he said if there was no change in her condition he would schedule surgery for this afternoon."

"Why hasn't he said anything to Jane?"

"He was hoping it wouldn't come to this. You know how things work Maura, operating is the last resort, he was really hoping that the drugs would do their job but they haven't."

"I know but she's burning up and I can't stand to see her like this." She handed the chart back to Jan as the doctor walked off the elevator.

"Dr. Isles let's go see how Jane is doing." He put his hand on her shoulder and walked down the hall with her. "How is she doing today?"

"She's getting worse, her temperature is up to 102 and she's having problems staying awake." Maura knew that was not a good sign. They stopped outside Jane's room to talk.

"Well it looks like we're going to have to go in and see why that particular spot is not healing. I'm sure Jan already filled you in and you had a chance to look at her chart." He gave her a knowing smile.

Maura gave him a sheepish smile. "Yes she did. Don't get mad at her ok?"

"I can't get mad at her because she saved me having to explain things to you. You saw the results of the CAT scan and saw the area of concern. She's not responding to the antibiotics so the only option is to go in and clean out the infection before it has a chance to do more damage to her body. Let's go talk to her."

Maura walked over to the bed and sat down next to Jane. "Jane, wake up the doctor wants to talk to you about something."

"No, don't want to wake up, I was having a good dream about you." Maura blushed and looked up at the doctor. "Come on Jane the doctor is here."

Jane finally opened her eyes and looked up at the doctor. "Hey what's up Doc?"

"Well I assume you are aware of the fact that your fever is not going down." Jane nodded and gave him a look that said 'duh'. The doctor laughed a small laugh. "Ok I'll give you that one. The infection is not going away so I think it's time to go back in and get rid of it ourselves."

Jane looked worriedly from the doctor to Maura. "You mean surgery? You need to go back in? Why? Isn't there something else you can do?"

"Jane we've tried every antibiotic and none of them worked. I feel this is our only option."

Jane turned to Maura. "Do you agree with him Maura? Does he need to operate."

Maura could see the fear in Jane's eyes so she took her hand to calm her down. "Yes, I think this is the only option. The infection is attacking your body and that is what is making you so tired." She reached up and brushed the hair off of her forehead. "I think you should let him operate."

"Will you be here when I wake up?" Jane asked in a small voice.

"Oh Jane of course I will, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else." Maura leaned down and kissed her feverish brow.

"Jane, how would you feel if Maura was in the operating room with us?" The doctor smiled down at Jane then over at Maura's eager face. "She is a doctor after all."

"You'd let me watch? It's been ages since I was in the OR. Do you want me there Jane?" She looked down at Jane.

"Yeah I think that would be nice. Do you want to be there Maura?" Jane's voice was slurring and she was having problems keeping up with the conversation, her head hurt.

"Yes Doctor James I would love to be there with you." Maura then turned back to Jane. "I'll be there with you too ok Jane?"

"Sure Maura…I'm sleepy…see ya later…so tired." Jane fell asleep before she could say anything more.

"So when can you operate?" Maura let go of Jane's hand and followed the doctor out of the room.

"I reserved a room for 2:00 pm so you should be down there about 1:30 getting scrubbed and suited up ok?" Maura nodded. "So I'll see you then."

"Thank you so much doctor, you have no idea what this means to me."

"It's not very often that I get the chance to do this, I just thought you could benefit from this too. This way you can see what she's been fighting and it will put your mind at ease to see that we removed all of the infection. That way you can also reassure Jane that it's all gone."

"Thank you again. Well I guess I'll see you about 1:30 then." She turned and headed back into Jane's room.

The surgery went off without a hitch and Jane was back in her room by 4:00 pm. The infection had been very extensive, even more than the CAT scan had shown and Doctor James was confident they got all of it before he sewed her back up. Maura was sitting by Jane's side when her eyes opened about 20 minutes later. "Hey there beautiful how are you doing?"

"Better I think. I'm not as hot. I guess that means ya got it huh?" Jane smiled up at Maura.

"Yes we got it all out of there."

"So how was it to be in there during surgery?" Jane saw the excited look in Maura's eyes

"It was great, really great. There was a lot of infection Jane, if they had waited much longer there would have been much more. The infection was all centrally located near the cavity the removal of your spleen created. There was an area of pathologically altered tissue…

"English Maura."

"Ok there was a sack of puss hiding in the corner and it was close to rupturing on its own. Had that happened it could have attached itself to any number of your organs and began to eat away at them."

"Ewww Maura." Jane scrunched up her face in distaste. "I did not need the details." She saw the slight look of hurt on Maura's face and regretted her word. "I'm sorry Maura, I forget that this is mundane to you but there are some things I would rather not know, The fact that there was this green sack of puss in my body that was ready to go on the offensive and spread it's little green ooze all over my body is one of the things I'm not sure I wanted to know."

"Actually it was yellow." At Jane's confused look she smiled. "The ooze was yellow not green."

"Ha ha Maura, real funny. Did you just crack a joke?"

"Yes I do think I did." Maura smiled down at Jane. "You seem to be rubbing off on me Jane Rizzoli. Next thing you know I'll be swearing and drinking beer."

"Give me and my family time and we'll corrupt you quite nicely. You'll fit in at any bar in Boston. Maybe we'll even get you into an old pair of blue jeans." At Maura's look of distaste she had to laugh. "Have you ever worn a pair of jean Maura?" She watched as Maura had to think about it. "Oh you've got to be kidding me, you've really never worn a pair of jeans? That's un-American Maura, everybody wears jeans, we are definitely going to have make some changes in your wardrobe."

"Jane I am perfectly fine in my clothes and I am perfectly capable of performing my duties in the clothes I wear."

"Yeah but at my parents house things have a tendency to get spilt and I would hate for one of your outfits to get ruined. Speaking of that, I never said sorry about the dress you were wearing the day I shot myself. I liked that dress by the way, but it must have cost you at least $200."

"It was $600 but don't worry about it Jane, it was worth it to be able to save your life."

"$500, did you say $500? Who spends $500 on one dress? Oh that's right you do don't you. See that's what I'm talking about, my best outfit doesn't even cost that much and that includes the shoes."

"Oh the shoes were $300."

"Are you serious? That whole outfit cost almost more than I make in a month. Aren't you worried about ruining your clothes."

"No I can just buy more." She said it so mater of factly. That was something Jane had never thought of before, Maura's background was so different than hers, could they really get along? Could she fit in her world? The bigger question is would Maura ever be able to fit into hers? Now she was starting to question whether this would work or not. "What are you thinking about Jane? What has put that pensive look upon your face?"

"Maybe this isn't going to work." She couldn't look at Maura.

"Maybe what isn't going to work. The surgery went fine." Now it was Maura's turn to worry.

Jane pointed between the two of them. "You and me. We're as different as night and day. You wear Gucci I wear Levi's, you drink $100 bottles of wine I drink beer from a bottle, you come from the Hampton's I come from South Boston, you use words I have to look up in the dictionary and I use words they don't put in the dictionary. Can we live in the same space without our differences getting in the way?"

Maura sat down and took Jane's face between her hands and looked deep into her eyes and that was when she realized she was absolutely serious. Maura also realized at that moment that she wanted very much to kiss Jane. She didn't say anything, all she did was lower her mouth to Jane's and as before she felt the spark and hoped that Jane did too. She pulled away with her hands still on Jane's face. "Do you feel that Jane?" Jane just nodded. "That kind of chemistry doesn't come along very often. Statistics show that 50% of all marriages end in divorce and that is because there is no chemistry between the partners. We have chemistry Jane and I'm not going to let you walk away from that. If I have to learn to drink your beer I will, if I have to dumb down as you so eloquently put it I will. Whatever it takes Jane, because you are worth it."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Wow Maura that's deep. You'd do that for me?" Jane looked up at her as if seeing her for the first time.

"No I'd do it for us. Now that we've figured out that we could be good for each other I'm not willing to walk away until we know if this is the real deal or not. If, and that's a big if things don't work out then it may be awkward for a while but I think we could still work together. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Give us a chance ok?" Maura was almost pleading with Jane.

"Well when you put it that way how can I say no? But for this to really work we can't change anything because then we're not being ourselves. You drink your wine and I'll drink my beer ok?"

"I am in total agreement with that. If we changed, sooner or later we will end up resenting each other. Who you are is what attracted me to you in the first place." Maura leaned down and kissed Jane and Jane caught her by surprise and pulled her down until she was almost lying down on top of her. "Jane behave, someone might see."

"Who are you afraid might see Maura? The hospital staff already knows I don't care if any of my co-workers see. So who are you worried about Maura?"

Maura decided to throw caution to the wind. "No one Jane." She placed her hip next to Jane's on the bed then swung her legs up off the floor so that she was lying next to Jane on the bed. She then slid her arm under Jane's neck so that she could pull Jane closer to her. Jane lifted her head and laid it back down on Maura's shoulder. "Now that's much better don't you think? Go back to sleep Jane, you need your rest if you expect to get out of this hospital."

"Maura Isles you are amazing." Jane turned her head so she could kiss Maura's neck. Jane's voice faded out as she was speaking and she promptly fell asleep.

Maura lay there with Jane in her arms and was surprised at how little she actually did care about what others thought at that moment. She could only think about how right it felt to hold Jane in her arms and watch her sleep. To watch the rise and fall of her chest and listen to the monitors beep in the background was a balm to her weary body and soon she too fell asleep. Maura woke with a start when she heard a moaning beside her. She woke to see Jane drenched in sweat in the middle of what was obviously a bad dream. She wrapped her arms around her sweating body and held her from behind in a gentle grip then whispered in her ear. "It's ok Jane I've got you, come on sweetie wake up you're having a bad dream. Jane stop struggling or you'll hurt yourself." Jane was grabbing her stomach as if she were in pain and struggling, Maura thought it looked as if she was reliving the shooting. She decided she was going to have to be a bit more forceful. She placed her hand on Jane's shoulder and shook her hard. "Jane wake up! You're having a bad dream."

"Damn Maura, you trying to give me shaken baby syndrome? Can you do that to an adult? Why are you shaking me so hard?"

"You were having a nightmare and you wouldn't wake up and I was worried that you might hurt yourself." Maura looked worriedly at Jane.

"So you decided to hurt me yourself? Damn you're strong." Jane smiled to take the sting out of her words. "I was dreaming about shooting myself but this time I couldn't get the gun turned around and he shot at you. That's when you woke me up. Thanks but next time you wake me I hope it's a little gentler."

"Oh my dear Ms. Rizzoli I will make every effort to wake you as gentle as possible the next time you have a bad dream. You better pray that we're not here at the hospital." The sultry sound of Maura's voice and the passion in her eyes were enough to tell Jane exactly how she planned to wake her up.

"Oh that's enough to make me look forward to having a dream. So tell me about the operation. How was it being in there?" She saw the look of excitement appear in Maura's eyes.

"Oh Jane it was very exciting to be back in the OR. It's been years since I was in an operating room, not since I did surgical rounds during my residency, before I decided to be a Medical Examiner. Did you know I originally started out wanting to be a Cardiac Specialist?"

"No I didn't, what changed your mind?" Jane was surprised at Maura's confession.

"I was a second year resident and I was assisting the head Cardiac Specialist in a quadruple bypass but we lost him on the table. It turned out it wasn't his heart that killed him, it was an aneurism in his brain that was found during the autopsy. The family wasn't even aware that it was there and most people aren't until it's too late. Until the autopsy, the doctor blamed himself, but when he got the autopsy results he was able to come to terms with it. That's when I decided that I wanted to speak for the dead and maybe help the living."

"I guess I never thought of your work that way, but it makes perfect sense." Jane reached up and pulled Maura's head down for a kiss. "Are you aware of the nickname the cops have given you?"

"You mean Doctor Death? Every Medical Examiner gets one sooner or later, I guess I can't do anything about it now can I? And it is what I do isn't it?"

"Yes it is and you are very good at it." Jane smiled at Maura with genuine affection. "So when can we blow this pop stand? I'm all better so I should be able to go home soon right?"

"The doctor said he would check on you sometime this morning and access the situation and make his decision after that."

"I can't wait to get out of here so I can have my way with you." Jane gave Maura a leer that made her smile. "I love your smile, your eyes light up. But then you have this impish smile…there! Like that one!" Jane's left hand shot out and pointed to the grin on Maura's face. "It makes me wonder what you are thinking. At the moment it looks like you're thinking the same thing I am thinking, at least I hope you are, you can't wait until we are alone together."

All of the sudden Maura got serious. "Jane I want you to know that this is much more than just sexual gratification, I hope you know that. This is so much more than that."

"But you do want the sexual gratification right?" Jane gave her an impish smile of her own.

"Oh most assuredly! That is right up there near the top of my list of things to do when you are released."

"Up near the top, how close to the top? What else do you have to do? What could be more important?" She asked incredulously.

"Well I have to feed Bass, my house needs to be cleaned, I have to take my clothes to the dry cleaner, and then I would have to make us something to eat. All very important tasks Jane." She looked at Jane with a straight face but was unable to maintain it when she saw the pained expression on Jane's face. "Ah Jane do you really think there would be anything more important than you? Nothing would be more important than spending time with you, and if that time includes making love all the better."

"I think I'm going to have to get used to this new Maura, you never used to joke around so I always knew you were serious, now I don't know anymore. But I like this side of you, you can be quite scary can't you?"

"You have no idea what you have unleashed Detective Rizzoli. The beast has been set free and now it is time to wreak havoc on my unsuspecting minions. I shall start with you as soon as we get home, speaking of home, whose house are we going to? You know you are welcome at mine but I have a feeling you would be more comfortable at your own apartment. And that is fine with me if that's what you want, you know I'm comfortable at your place."

"I'll even let you bring Bass, we can take him for a walk later and he and I can have a race to see who's faster, he may be able to beat me for the next few days." Jane wasn't kidding when she said she liked the new Maura, she had always been a bit of a stuffed shirt, a beautiful stuffed shirt but a stuffed shirt none the less. But this Maura has a brilliant sense of humor when she let's herself relax and Jane was going to do everything she could to help her relax. She looked towards the door as Doctor James came walking in and had to laugh as Maura jumped out of the bed, never thinking about the fact that he already saw them lying together. "Oh you had better have good news because if you don't you might think about turning around and leaving because I know how to kill a man and leave no evidence."

Dr. James laughed as he picked up her chart. "Well at least you are in better spirits than the last time I saw you and from the looks of your chart you are responding well to the drugs so I think it would be safe to send you home this afternoon. Dr. Isles said she would be taking care of you so I feel confident that it should be ok to let you go home." He gave them both a knowing smile. "So I'll take care of the paperwork and Sheila will be in later to give you the outpatient procedures and I would like to see you back in my office in about a week to discuss going back to work and see how you are doing."

"Do you think there's a chance I could be back at work within a week?" Jane asked hopefully.

"No I said we would discuss going back to work I didn't say you would be going back to work. It will probably be closer to a month before you can go back to work in a limited capacity at best."

"A month! Are you saying I can't go back to work for a month! You have got to be shitting me." Jane was trying to get out of the bed.

"Jane lay back down before you hurt yourself! Do you want to stay here longer? Because if you don't behave, Dr. James will not let you go home. Now lie down and behave." Jane huffed and lay back down.

"Whose side are you on? He says I can't go back to work for a month, what the hell am I supposed to do for a month?"

"I believe that is my cue to leave. Like Dr. Isles says, behave or you'll ruin everything I did to keep you alive. It's in your best interest Jane."

"How can sitting on my ass doing nothing for a month be in my best interest?" Jane was pouting as she watched the doctor leave the room.

Maura had to smile at Jane's antics, she'd never seen her like this before. "Jane I doubt very much if you are going to be sitting around doing nothing, granted you won't be out there chasing bad guys around but I think we can think of a few things to keep you busy."

"What's with this 'we'? You said you were going to take some time off but after about a week you'll go back to work and I'll be left to my own devices. That's not a good thing Maura, me with idle time on my hands is dangerous, and I get bored easily."

"We'll think of something to keep you busy, you'll have Jo Friday to keep you company and Bass can stay to keep you company too if you want. He won't be any problem."

"Thank you Maura I would like that very much. Will you be coming by won't you?" Jane asked somewhat shyly.

"Of course I will Jane, I will be there every night if you want me there. Why don't we see how things go, by that time you may be sick of me and not want to ever see me again." Maura gave her a cheesy grin.

"Never!" Just as she said that the nurse came into the room with her discharge paperwork. The three of them went over everything and then they brought in the wheelchair. As she was sitting down she looked up and saw Frost and Korsak come around the corner and enter her room. "Hey guys I'm outta here, their finally springing me and Maura is going to make dinner for me. Ma stocked the refrigerator so who knows what we're going to be eating."

Korsak looked to Frost and smiled. "Good we'll follow you there. See ya in a little while then." Frost and Korsak turned and left.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Jane looked up to Maura who had the same forlorn expression on her face that Jane had on hers. "I was hoping to have you all to myself, what are we going to do now?"

Maura knelt down in front of Jane's wheelchair and took her hands in hers. "It may not be the way we wanted to spend our afternoon but they are your friends and they want what's best for you. We'll have the rest of the day ok?"

"Yeah, I guess so, but I don't have to like it." She leaned forward and gave Maura a kiss. "I guess anything deeper than that is going to have to wait until later." Maura stood up and started to push the wheelchair towards the elevator. Jane looked up over her shoulder. "Can you believe the guys are going to be waiting at my apartment and joining us for dinner? I wanted you all to myself today." Jane pouted as the elevator door opened. Maura wheeled her in and pushed the button for the ground floor.

Maura once again knelt down in front of Jane. "We've got all the time in the world. I have to admit I was hoping for a romantic evening alone with you but hopefully the guys won't want to stay long." She rose up and kissed Jane soundly. "It will be ok."

"It better be. I had plans for today and they did not include Frost and Korsak." She looked up at Maura and smiled. Maura pushed Jane to her car and helped her in into the passenger seat. They drove in silence to Jane's apartment each lost in their thoughts. As Maura pulled into the parking lot she saw Frost and Korsak waiting by the building's entrance. "I was kind of hoping they would change their minds a not be here. This sucks." Jane opened her door and stood up to walk towards them when Frost came running over to her to help her walk. "You touch me and I will kick you where it counts and you will be singing soprano. I do not need help."

Frost held up his hands in surrender. "I was just going to walk beside you in case you needed help. I'll back off because my wife likes me as a tenor and she likes all of my parts in working order thank you. So what's for dinner?"

"I have no idea because we don't know what Ma left for us. Let's go see shall we?" Jane tried to sound excited but she was having problems being hospitable at the moment. They shared the elevator to the 4th floor and all four stood outside Jane's door as she unlocked it and walked in. She went directly to the kitchen and grabbed a beer out of the refrigerator and offered one to each of the guys and they declined. Maura opened a bottle of wine for herself and poured a class and sipped it as she watched Jane look through the refrigerator for something to eat.

"Ok I guess we've tortured you long enough. Come on Frost let's get out of here and let the two lovebirds have the place to themselves." Korsak and Frost both started laughing. "Jane we had no intention of staying for more than 5 minutes let alone dinner. We just wanted to see how you would react. We didn't even know you were going home today. Chalk that one up to good timing." He walked over and awkwardly hugged Jane then did the same to Maura. "Give me a call when you want to visit and maybe I'll take you out to lunch or something. See ya." He was laughing as he walked towards the door. "Your face at the hospital was comical, you looked like someone kicked your puppy. I couldn't help myself I'm sorry."

"You're not sorry at all. What do you have to say for yourself Frost? Did you plan on staying for dinner or not?" Jane looked at her partner.

"Hell no, I know when to bow out and this is definitely the time to bow out. Korsak didn't even give me a chance to say anything and when he told me his plan as we were heading out of the hospital he said I had to go along with it or you would know he was lying. I had nothing to do with it. Now let's get the hell out of here Korsak."

They both headed out the door and Jane watched as Korsak slapped Frost lightly on the side of the head. "I had nothing to do with it." He mimicked what Frost had said earlier but he said it in a whiney voice. "You are such a chicken shit you know that." Jane could still hear them as the elevator door closed.

She closed the door and turned to Maura who was pulling a covered dish out of the refrigerator. Jane walked up behind her and put her arms around her waist and moved her hair out of the way so she could kiss her neck. "I thought they'd never leave." She looked over Maura's shoulder to the bowl she was holding. "Are you hungry or can that wait?" She nodded her head towards the bowl in Maura's hands.

Maura turned around in Jane's arms and held the bowl out to the side. "What do you have in mind?" Maura looked into the dark smoldering eyes above her. Jane wiggled her eyebrows. "Oh really? On an empty stomach?" Maura smiled up at Jane as she placed the bowl on the counter and wrapped her arms around Jane's neck. "I guess lunch can wait a little bit." She went up on her tip toes and brought her lips to rest on Jane's neck. She flicked her tongue out and licked just below her ear and was rewarded with a soft moan from Jane. "You like that do you? How about this?" She whispered as she took Jane's earlobe between her teeth and gently bit down then licked around her ear. This time Jane's reaction was more of a groan than a moan. Having had quite a few sleepovers here at Jane's apartment Maura knew the way to her bedroom and started to push Jane in that direction and Jane put up no fight.

When they made it to the doorway to the bedroom Maura suddenly stopped and looked up to Jane. "What's wrong Maura? Are you ok?" She looked down at the slight look of fear in Maura's eyes. "What's the matter sweetie?" She took Maura in her arms and led her to the bed and then sat down and pulled Maura down to sit next to her. "You look scared. If you don't want to do this we don't have to right now. We can wait until you're ready to take the next step."

Maura turned to her and Jane was surprised to see tears in her eyes. "Oh Jane thank you for that but I am more than ready to take the next step. But you do realize that this is going to change everything don't you? Our relationship will never be the same again. I don't want to lose what we already have."

Jane pulled Maura to her in a tight hug. "Ah Maura I don't want to lose that either, but I hope we'll keep what we already have and make it better and grow even closer. How can we not?" She kissed the top of Maura's head and held her close until she felt Maura's hands against her skin at the top of her jeans. She held completely still and let Maura take the lead. Her hands were slowly moving around to Jane's back then she felt her nails as they made their way back around to the front. Jane shivered at the feeling of her nails being dragged across her skin. Maura then took hold of the hem of Jane's shirt and raised it up to just above Jane's breasts, she raised her hands so Maura could pull it up over her head.

As Maura was pushing Jane down onto the bed she reached behind her to remove her bra. "You do realize I've never done this before don't you? I've mean I've made love before but never to a woman. I'm not sure what to do, will you help me?"

Jane sat back up to look at Maura. "Do you think I've done this before? This is a first for me too. Just do what you feel like doing, so far you are doing everything just right, more than just right. What you are doing feels wonderful." She looked into her hazel eyes and saw need and desire then whispered. "Just think about what makes you feel good, then do that to me." She was rewarded when she saw those eyes darken and her breath quicken. Jane reached up and pulled Maura's shirt over her head and removed her bra as quickly as she could then pulled her down on top of her. Neither woman moved, they were both absorbed in the feeling of skin on skin for the first time. When she felt Maura starting to move she pulled her tight against her. "Don't move for a minute, this feels too good."

"I know what you mean, this feels very nice and I could stay like this all day." Maura reached up and put a hand on either side of Jane's head and gently caressed her hair. When she felt Jane's grip around her waist slacken she thought she had fallen asleep but when she rose up on her elbows to look down at Jane it was her turn to be surprised by the tears in Jane's eyes. She lowered her head so that she could lick the tears from her cheeks then kissed each eye until she saw Jane had regained control. "Kind of overwhelming isn't it?" Jane nodded. "Once again I know exactly how you feel. I've never felt this connection with any man I have ever been with. Granted I haven't been with that many men before but I can honestly say I have never felt this way with anyone and we haven't really done much yet. I can only hope it gets better."

"I'm not sure I can handle that." She smiled up at Maura. "But I'm willing to take that chance. At least if I pass out I'm in good hands aren't I Dr. Isles?"

"I'm not sure they are good hands but they are gifted. Want me to show you how gifted?" Maura sat up and did her best impression of a leer and Jane had to laugh. "What you don't like my leer?"

"You could no sooner pull off a leer that I could don a tutu and perform a ballet. It is never going to happen. But you sure as hell look sexy sitting there with no shirt on." She felt Maura's hand on her breast and her eyes closed of their own accord. Then she felt her lips take the place of her hand and her hips moved beneath the two of them. "Damn Maura that feels so good."

"You like that?" All Jane could do is nod. "I like that too, you feel so good beneath me and you look fantastic." She took one nipple into her mouth and moaned when she felt is harden to a firm peak. "Mmmm that's nice." She swirled her tongue around the hardened peak and blew on it. She then moved to the other breast and did the same. Jane's body was writhing beneath her and her moans were doing wonders for her libido. Maura's hand continued its journey down Jane's body and when she felt the muscles at her midriff her own breath hitched. "I love your transverse abdominal muscles and the way they react to my touch." Once again her hand's path was followed by her lips and that just about sent Jane over the edge. She paid special attention to the still not healed scar, she kissed it gently then licked around it until she felt a shiver run through Jane's body.

"Maura do you have any idea what you are doing to me? That feels…I can't think of a word to even describe how good it feels. Are you sure you've never done this before because you sure are good at it?" She felt Maura's lips near her navel and she couldn't stop her hips from rising off the bed to try to get closer to those lips. Maura's hand casually reached down and pushed the hips back down to the bed and reached for the button on Jane's jeans. She lowered the zipper so slow that Jane almost reached down to help her. "Damn Maura if you don't hurry up I'm going to explode."

"Oh Jane you don't want to rush a good thing and this is a very good thing. A very good thing." Maura started to push the jeans and panties down then moved so she was kneeling between Jane's legs and kissed her way down her legs as the skin was revealed. She pulled the jeans and panties off and threw them over her shoulder. She started to slowly kiss and lick her way back up her legs. "Look at those legs, they seem to go on forever they are beautiful. So well proportioned, these tibialis anterior muscles are rock hard, the peroneus longus shows your workouts have been very productive. Very productive indeed." Maura's hand hesitated when she came to the dark curls at the apex of Jane's legs. "You smell good." Maura touched the curls then licked her way towards the dripping wet opening and took her first taste of Jane. "Oh my god you taste as good as you smell." Maura then moved her fingers close to her opening and plunged two fingers inside and Jane's hips came up to meet each thrust. "You're so beautiful." Maura took the swollen nub into her mouth and flicked her tongue back and forth while her fingers continued to plunge in and out at a frantic pace.

"Maura…I am…so…close…that…feels…so…good! Maura!" Jane crashed over the edge with the strongest orgasm she had ever had. She reached down to stop Maura's hand. "That was amazing." She looked up and just about lost it again when she watched Maura crawling up her body licking the fingers that had just given her the most pleasurable experience in her life.

Maura looked at the sated look on Jane's face and knew how she felt. The experience of pleasing Jane was almost as good as having her own orgasm. She crawled the rest of the way up Jane's body to her lips and closed the distance between the two of them and crashed her lips against Jane's. She heard Jane moan and then forced her tongue past Jane's lips, not that she met with much resistance. Their tongues met in a duel as old as time, a duel that no one loses. "You are amazing!" She took Jane in her arms and lay down beside her. "That was so amazing."

Jane turned so she was lying on her side facing Maura. "I think that's my line." She smiled at Maura. "I can honestly say I have never felt anything as amazing as what I just felt." She leaned forward to kiss Maura and then forced her onto her back. "Why is it you are still wearing clothes?"

"I guess I never got around to taking them off. What are you going to do about it?" Maura looked up at her with a challenge in her eyes.

"Well seeing as though I don't think it would be much pleasure to leave them on I guess we will have to remove them."

"We?"

"Ok, I guess I will have to remove them." Jane leaned down and tenderly kissed Maura. "Let me know if I do anything that you don't like or if there is something you do like feel free to voice your opinion in any way you please. Moaning and groaning are encouraged, screaming in ecstasy is encouraged even more."

"Screaming Jane? You think you'll have me screaming, I don't think so." Maura looked at her dubiously.

"You may not think so but I sure hope so." She reached down and unbuttoned the button on Maura's pants and took up much the same position between her legs as Maura had earlier. She unzipped the zipper much quicker than Maura did and made short work of both pants and panties and Maura didn't even complain when Jane threw them in the general direction of where her own jeans and panties were lying on the floor. She sat back on her haunches and took in the sight before her and Maura Isles in all her glory was a sight to behold. "Shit Maura you're gorgeous. Wait I didn't mean it like that! I knew you were gorgeous already but my god you're gorgeous!" Jane worked her way back up Maura's body and took her face between her hands. "You have a beautiful body Dr. Isles."

"Why thank you Detective Rizzoli, I work hard to maintain it as you already know."

"And I will never watch you exercise the same again now that I know what lies beneath those workout sweats you wear. And if I see that long haired Pilates guru touch you again I may have to break something on his person." She growled at Maura.

"Oh Jane, are you telling me you're jealous? How sweet." Maura smiled up at Jane. "I love it that you're jealous but you have absolutely nothing to be jealous of." Jane tried to hold herself up on her elbow but winced and lay back down. Maura saw the wince and immediately went into doctor mode. "Are you ok, what can I do, where does it hurt?" She checked Jane's stomach to make sure she didn't do any damage.

Jane pushed Maura back down and rolled over so that she was on top of her. "I'm fine, remember I'm still going to find things I cannot do and apparently using my arm as a headrest uses muscles attached to my stomach in some way or another so I can't do that right now. I'm fine. Now where was I? Oh yeah I was right about here." She lowered herself so that she was laying flat against Maura. "I think I've found my new favorite sleeping position, on my stomach on top of you."

"You'll get no arguments from me." Maura smiled up at her.

"But alas I think that I would get too heavy after a time so that wouldn't work." Jane rolled onto her side and reached up with one hand and caressed Maura's cheek and became serious. "I hope I can please you half as much as you pleased me." She leaned down and brought her lips down to Maura's neck and gently nipped her there. "You smell good." She licked her way up to her ear and then kissed her right below her ear and when she heard the moan she moved to the other side and did the same thing. "You like that huh?" Maura nodded her head. "I'll remember that." Jane's hand went from caressing her cheek to caressing her breast and she watched as the nipple immediately became rock hard then she bent down and took it into her mouth. "Mmmm you taste as good as you smell." While she was nipping and licking one breast she took the other nipple between her fingers and rolled it and pinched it until it too hardened between her fingers. She took a breast in each hand then smiled up at Maura. "Perfect fit, like they were made for my hands." She slid her body down Maura's body kissing and licking her way down. She was feeling some pain but she wasn't going to let Maura know because she wanted to please her, she can yell at me later but for now I'm going to enjoy myself. She was licking just above her curls when she felt a hand grab her hair. She looked up and saw that Maura had her lower lip clenched between her teeth and was holding herself back. "Don't you dare hold back on me Maura, I want everything. Let yourself go."

"I don't know if I know how Jane. I feel so much more than I've ever felt before and you've only just started." Jane moved her lips to Maura's swollen nub and flicked her tongue back and forth over it. "Damn Jane, what are you doing? That feels wonderful." Jane slipped two fingers into her and Maura's hips raised up about a foot off the bed which gave Jane better access which she took advantage of by adding a third finger and doubling the tempo of her tongue on her clit. "Oh my god! Jane! Don't stop!" Jane had no intention of stopping. She pulled her fingers almost all of the way out and held them there then stopped her tongue too.

"Maura, look at me." Jane waited until she made eye contact with her then quickly plunged all three fingers in and pulled them back out again. "Come for me Maura." Jane attacked her clit again and continued to plunge her fingers in until she felt Maura's walls start to tighten around her fingers.

"Jane! I can't take it. I'm so close." Jane turned her hand around so that she could reach her G-spot and when she made contact with it Maura threw her head back and almost passed out. "Oh my god! Jane! Ja…ne!" Jane felt the first tremor and she renewed her attack on her swollen nub and her fingers continued their plunging in and out. "Oh...my…god…JANE!" Her whole body went rigid before it shook with the force of her orgasm and Jane continued to ravage her until she felt the last spasm make it way through her body. Maura reached down and pushed Jane's head away from her throbbing core. "You have to stop or I will be the one passing out not you." Jane moved her head away but did not remove her fingers. She moved up Maura's body so that she was lying next to her but still did not remove her fingers. "That was unbelievable." She looked up at Jane and saw the smug yet satisfied smile on her face. "Someone looks proud of herself. And you should be. I do believe in the end there I screamed you name didn't I?" Jane's smile grew even wider as she nodded. Maura tried to sit up to kiss Jane but she found she didn't have enough energy to even move. "I want to kiss you but I haven't got the strength to come up there to you will you come to me?"

"My pleasure." Jane leaned down and tenderly kissed the lips that waited for her. As Jane used her tongue to part her lips Maura groaned at the taste of herself on Jane's lips. "Definitely my pleasure." She kissed her cheeks her eyes then back to her lips. "I could kiss you forever as a matter of fact I think I will." She ignored the pain in her stomach and went up on one elbow so she could look down at Maura as she started to slowly move her fingers inside Maura again. Maura's eyes opened wide as she looked up at Jane in surprise.

"Oh Jane I don't think I can…oh my…how can this be happening?" Jane gently moved her fingers within Maura and used her thumb to rub against her clit in rhythm with the movement inside her. She was gentle and loving in her ministrations and brought her head down and took one breast into her mouth. "This has never happened before." Maura was already breathing heavy.

Jane looked up at Maura a bit confused. "What has never happened Maura?"

Between breaths Maura tried to answer. "Never have…I been…able to…have more than…one orgasm. But you…have me…ready again."

Jane rose up again so she was able to slide her arm under Maura's shoulders and she pulled her closer and whispered. "That's a good thing Maura because that's what I was trying to achieve." She pressed her thumb against her throbbing clit and was able to watch Maura's face and hold her as once again her body spammed in ecstasy. "God you're beautiful." She slowly removed her fingers and brought them to her lips. "Mmmm you taste good too."

"You have no idea do you?" Maura said when she was finally able to speak. "You have no idea what you did to me." She snuggled up against Jane and rested her head on her shoulder. Jane reached down and pulled the blanket up over both of them.

"I'm not sure can you tell me?" Jane wrapped her arm around Maura and pulled her close. "Are you ok?"

Maura turned so she could look up at Jane. "I have never had more than one orgasm during a love making session and I have never felt so cared for during that session as I felt with you. I guess that would be the difference between making love with a woman compared to a man. Most men don't think about what would please a woman but you did and trust me you pleased me very much." She leaned up and gave Jane a quick kiss. "Usually by this time a man is asleep or already gone but here you are."

"Where would I go this is my house?" She smiled down at Maura. "Besides I don't want to be anywhere but where I am right now. Let's get some sleep so we can wake up and do it all over again ok?" She smiled down at Maura.

"I think I can manage that." Maura snuggled deeper into Jane's side and draped her arm over Jane's stomach but when Jane jumped she moved her arm quickly. "Oh sweetie I'm sorry did I hit your wound? It seems to be more sensitive than it been recently, have you been hurting this whole time?" At Jane's sheepish look Maura moved off of Jane's arm and brought it down to her side. She took a close look at the wound then up at Jane. "Why didn't you say something?"

"Because I was having fun and so were you. It's nothing so don't worry about it." She tried to pull Maura to her but Maura wouldn't let her.

"No Jane it's not nothing. I can't believe I just used a double negative. Remember what the doctor said, if it hurts don't do it. Did it hurt when I was making love to you?" Jane shook her head. "So it only hurts when you make love to me right?" Jane nodded. "So I guess that means for the next few days I can make love to you but you cannot make love to me right?"

"No it means I just have to be careful in the way that I make love to you. I'll just have to be a little more imaginative." Jane leered up at Maura.

"What do you mean imaginative? What do you have in mind?" Maura couldn't figure out what Jane had in mind.

"You'll just have to wait and see. I may not know until the time comes. Speaking of coming…" Jane wiggled her eyebrows.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Jane woke late in the day and turned her head to the side and was able to watch Maura as she slept. How did she get so lucky to have found someone as wonderful as her? She slipped out of the bed and used the bathroom, slipped on her favorite robe then headed out to the kitchen to make them some lunch. She popped the top on what Maura had taken out of the refrigerator when they had gotten home and smiled. "Ma you're the best." She said out loud to herself. She turned on the broiler and set out the dish. She took out a bottle of wine and a bottle of beer. "I'll heat this up and we'lll be good to go." She removed the dish from the broiler and grabbed the salad she had made while it was cooking and placed it all on the tray and headed back to the bedroom. She placed the tray on the dresser then carefully knelt down on the bed next to Maura.

Maura woke and turned when she felt the bed dip behind her and looked up into the smiling eyes of Jane. Jane bent down and dropped a quick kiss on Maura's lips. "Hi, how long have you been up and what's that wonderful smell?"

"Spaghetti Carbonara Frittata. Ma makes the best Spaghetti Carbonara Frittata." She went over to the dresser and returned with the tray. She put the tray down on the bed and cut a piece of the frittata and brought it to Maura's lips. "Try this."

She watched Maura close her eyes as she chewed the egg based dish. "Mmmm that is wonderful." Maura picked up her fork and fed some to Jane. "I can't believe you aren't fat growing up with meals like this." Maura watched as Jane dipped her head so she couldn't see her face. She reached up to Jane's face and moved her hair out of the way. "What's the matter, did I say something wrong?"

"They used to call me Rolli Polli Rizzoli. Ma's answer to everything that ailed you was food, if you had a headache, eat something. If you get cramps, eat something. If you skin your knee, eat something. Well, you saw what my refrigerator looked like. She probably spent days cooking all of that food." Jane picked up another forkful and fed it to Maura then took a bite for herself. "In Junior High School when I got involved in sports I started losing the weight and I've had to work hard to keep it off."

"And what a delectable body you have created. You've done well, and I would love to help you maintain this beautiful body."

"And how do you plan to do that Dr. Isles?"

"Well Jane on average, you burn about 150 calories in a 30 minute love making session. That's more than we burn in one Yoga class."

Jane tried to sit up quickly but stopped when she felt the pain in her stomach. "How the hell do I keep forgetting about the fact that I have a hole in my stomach and it takes severe pain to remind me?"

"Because you are stubborn."

"That was meant to be a rhetorical question Maura. But to get back to what you were talking about. Are you telling me that we can burn more calories making love for just 30 minutes that we do in the Yoga classes we've been taking?"

Maura smiled at Jane, thinking she knew where this conversation was going. "Yes Jane we can."

"And it won't cost $75 a session?"

"Not unless you want to pay me and write it off on your taxes as therapy."

Jane turned her head quickly towards Maura. "Could I do that?"

"No Jane you cannot do that, I can just imagine the face of the IRS agent as you explain that deduction. 'Well you see sir, I was spending this much on yoga…" Maura was unable to finish her sentence as Jane's mouth covered hers in a toe curling kiss.

"I meant could I write off the Yoga classes silly. I know I couldn't write off sex with my girlfriend." Jane looked down as the corners of Maura's mouth turned up in a secret smile. "What's that smile for?"

"I like the sound of being called your girlfriend." Maura stood up then leaned down and picked up the tray and took it over and placed it on the chair in the corner. When she turned back around Jane had a huge smile on her face. "What's that smile for?"

Jane scooted down so she was lying flat on her back. "I'm using my imagination. Come here." She crooked her finger for Maura to join her on the bed. "I want to try something."

"Jane you shouldn't be exerting yourself." Maura lay down beside her. "As much as I would love for you to make love to me this morning, you need to rest and not keep pulling on the muscles in your stomach."

"I want you to straddle me on my hips Maura." Jane's eyes were smiling and Maura was curious as to what she was up to.

"I can't Jane that would hurt you."

"It would hurt if you sat on my stomach, but not if you were on my hips. Just try it please, I'll let you know if it hurts." At Maura's questioning glance Jane hurried to reassure her. "I promise I will tell you if it hurts."

"Promise?" Jane nodded her head. Maura gently lowered herself onto Jane's hips and had to admit it was a pleasing view from her end of things. "You are very beautiful Jane, you take my breath away." She reached forward to touch Jane's breast and watched as Jane's eyes turned a shade darker before she even touched her. She continued to stare into Jane's eyes as her fingers made contact with her breast. Jane's breath hitched at first contact but she maintained the eye contact with Maura. "What a sight you are. Can you feel what you do to me?" Jane could only nod. She could feel the liquid pool between her legs which matched the pool she could feel between Maura's.

"Yes I can feel what I do to you." Jane reached up and took Maura's hands in hers to stop her movements. "And I can feel what you are doing to me and it feels sooo good." Maura gave her a confused look. "This is for you not me right now. So you have to stop that because it's very distracting." Maura's face broke out in a very satisfied smile. "Go ahead and smile, you have the right, you turn me on more than I've even been turned on before but as I said this is for you not me."

"But Jane I was enjoying myself very much. I take great pleasure in pleasing you. What is it you have in mind?" She looked into the devilish smile of the woman beneath her.

"Move up."

"I already told you I wasn't going to do anything to hurt you. If I move up at all I will be sitting on your wound."

"I didn't intend for you to stop at my stomach." Jane waited to see if Maura understood what she wanted. She watched her face hoping she wasn't pushing her too far too soon. "I would like to test the strength in your upper thighs."

"Oh my god…do you mean you want…me to kneel…above you?" Jane watched as Maura actually blushed.

"Maura I didn't think anything could make you blush. I've never done this myself…but I thought we could try."

"Well Jane this is not something I've ever done during any of my previous sexual encounters." Maura still hadn't moved.

Jane actually laughed at the look of disbelief on Maura's face. "Maura I don't think we can compare this to any of your previous encounters or mine. If you don't want to try this it's ok. I just thought that as long as you're not going to let me do any of the work, this would be an interesting thing to try."

"I didn't say I didn't want to try it, I was just a little surprised that's all. If you think about the possibilities, it could be rather pleasing."

"So come here Maura, let me please you." She watched as Maura positioned herself above her head. She couldn't believe how turned on she was. She reached up with both hands and wrapped them around Maura's upper thighs and pulled her down so she could take her throbbing sex into her mouth. She licked all the way back to her dripping center and entered her with her tongue which drew a very loud moan from Maura. She set a rhythm with her tongue that Maura matched with the movement of her hips.

"Damn Jane that feels amazing." She replaced her lips with her fingers and her mouth returned to her clit and sped up the rhythm. Maura was setting a frantic pace with her hips and Jane was keeping pace with her fingers and tongue. Maura had grabbed the headboard with both of her hands and Jane could feel the bed rocking. She really liked this vantage point, she reached up and took one of Maura's breasts in her free hand and watched as they both immediately became hard "DAMN! Oh Jane I'm coming! Don't stop!" Jane's hand was furiously pumping in and out and Maura was frantically riding her hand and mouth. Maura's body went rigid before it started to shake almost violently with her release. She collapsed against the headboard and stayed that way until her legs began to shake and she started to fall backwards.

Jane prepared herself for Maura's weight on her stomach and was ready when she made contact. It didn't hurt as much as she thought it would and Maura's weight was welcomed. She rolled them both to the side and turned her body so she could pull Maura against her. Maura still hadn't said anything and Jane looked down to see that her eyes were closed. "Maura? Are you ok?" She got no response so she shook her a little. "Maura, honey wake up?" She started to get worried so she ran to the bathroom wet a wash cloth with cold water and brought it back and placed it on Maura's brow. She looked down as Maura's eyes slowly started to open. Jane smiled down with worry evident in her face.

"What happened?" Maura asked in a hoarse voice.

"I do believe you passed out. Are you ok?" Jane leaned down on kissed her brow.

Maura smiled up at Jane. "I'm not sure?" Maura's voice was barely above a whisper.

"What's the matter? Did you hurt something? Did I hurt something? I know it got a little rough at the end. I'm sorry." Maura tried to reach up to place a finger on Jane's lips but her hand just dropped back to the bed. "Oh god you're hurt aren't you? What can I do?" Jane finally stopped and took a good look at Maura's face. "Why are you smiling if you're hurt?"

Maura had to clear her throat twice before she could speak. "Because I'm not hurt. I'm completely depleted of every bit of energy my body once possessed. I can't even raise my hand to touch you. That was unbelievable and I was not prepared for how it would affect me."

"You mean you weren't prepared to pass out?" Maura shook her head. "Well I wasn't prepared for that either, you scared the shit out of me. Good thing I'm a cop and I'm trained to work under adverse conditions."

"Are you calling me adverse conditions?"

"Oh baby you are anything but adverse, and it was my pleasure to work under you. That was unfuckingbelievable. You were amazing, and so sexy I almost came from just watching you. Damn, I want to do that again." Jane turned on her side and tried the head on the hand thing again so she could look down at Maura and was pleased when the pain wasn't as bad. She leaned down and kissed Maura gently and lovingly. "You have no idea how amazing you looked above me. I was able to watch every expression on your face and my god that body of yours moving the way you did was beyond words." Maura blushed. "Why are you blushing? You were beautiful."

"I lost control. I've never lost control like that before."

"I know, wasn't that great? I plan on finding as many ways as possible to make that happen over and over again." Jane pulled Maura close to her and rolled over onto her back and pulled Maura with her so that her head was resting on Jane's shoulder. "You said damn, two times as a matter of fact." She listened to Maura's breathing and smiled.

"I know." Maura said quietly as she fell asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Maura woke up screaming in the middle of the night and Jane was quick to pull her tight against her to let her know she wasn't alone. "It's ok Maura I'm here. It's just a bad dream. It's ok I've got you."

Maura had her back to Jane and felt the strength in the arms that held her and knew that she was safe. She still wasn't ready to turn around and face Jane. Nobody likes to be woken up in the middle of the night, especially not by someone screaming and she didn't want to see the anger in Jane's face. "I'm ok, you can go back to sleep."

Jane forced Maura to turn over so she could look in her face. She gently brushed her hair away from her face and looked at her. "Did you really think I would just turn over and go back to sleep? Well think again. Something scared the crap out of you and then you in turn scared the crap out of me and I think we should talk about it."

"You're not angry at me for waking you?"

"Hell no Maura. How could I be angry? Why would I be angry? Wait a minute. This isn't the first time this had happened is it?"

"No it's not. This has happened a few times in my life and usually, if I'm somewhere else, I get out of bed get dressed and leave."

"Let me guess, the men never stopped you and never called you again right?"

"Right, and if we happen to be at my place, the man usually gets dressed and leaves. So do you want me to leave?" Maura asked with tears in her voice.

"Oh no, hell no, you're not getting out of it that easy! How long have you been having these nightmares?"

"Years, sometimes it the same with just a slight variation but lately they've gotten worse since my biological father has made an appearance in my life. But this one was new, I saw you shooting yourself on the steps outside work but this time you looked right at me before you pulled the trigger and I saw the look of resignation in your eyes. As if you knew you were going to die and it was ok." Maura raised her head to look at Jane. "It's not ok Jane. If you ever do anything like that again I will never forgive you."

Jane pulled her back down against her and ran her fingers through her hair. "I'm so sorry to add to problems you are already having. I promise I will never do that again."

"Why did you do it Jane, why did you feel that was your only alternative?"

"Because as we were walking through the building Bobby knew there were going to be cops all over the place outside the building and he told me he was going to take out as many people as he could before they could kill him. I knew you would be coming out the door behind me and you would be the only one not wearing a vest. He wouldn't hesitate to kill you and I couldn't take that chance. I love…care about you too much for that."

Maura finally rose up on her elbow so she could look down at Jane. "I love you Jane. I have for a very long time, I just didn't know how much. You complete me like no one ever has." She started crying and laid her head back down on Jane's shoulder hoping she didn't say too much and mess things up beyond repair.

Jane put her hand below Maura's chin and raised her head up so she could look her in the eyes. "I love you too Maura. I was afraid to say anything because I didn't want to scare you away. I realize now that I don't want to be without you in my life ever again. We've known each other for years and I think it was all leading up to this moment. I'm more comfortable with you than I ever have been with anyone in my life. You make me feel loved and cherished, something I didn't know I needed, but I need it, but only from you." She leaned down and kissed Maura and Maura had never felt anything as sweet as that kiss and it brought new tears to her eyes.

"I thought I had lost you, I watched you die and it tore my heart out. I couldn't bear the thought of you not being there."

"Maura I can't quit being a cop. I won't." Jane couldn't move, she waited to see what Maura was going to say.

Maura quickly sat up and faced Jane. "Oh Jane I would never ask you to quit. It's who you are. And I can't ask you to change that. You only know one way of pursing criminals because you do everything in one way and that's all out. But I can ask you to never shoot yourself again can't I?"

Jane threw back her head and laughed. "I promise to never shoot myself. I was so afraid you were going to ask me to quit the force and I didn't know what I was going to say."

"I couldn't ask you to give up something you've wanted your whole life."

"Good. Now back to the important things. I do believe before you passed out yesterday you not only screamed but you swore. What do you have to say for yourself Maura Isles?"

Maura leaned down and kissed Jane very soundly. "I do believe you are going to be very good for me Jane Rizzoli." She lay her head back down on Jane's shoulder and kissed the skin there. "I love you."

"I guess we'll be good for each other." Jane pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. "I love you too."

**This seems like a good place to stop. Hope ya'll enjoyed my story. I have already started another one that leads up to and ends at episode #1, stay tuned and thank you for all of the great reviews.**


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